Each proposal within this paper contains information described as the "appropriation breakdown." These numbers simply refer to the origins of the funds used to pay for the program. There are four possible areas from which a program can be funded: Interdepartmental Grants; Federal Funds; General Fund/General Purpose Funds (GF/GP); and Special Revenue Funds.
Interdepartmental Grants are exactly what the name implies; funds transferred from one state department to another. For example, if the Department of Commerce were to assume some of the computer processing responsibilities of the Department of Labor, Labor would issue a grant to Commerce to help pay for the provision of that service.
Federal Funds are funds sent from Washington to Lansing to subsidize the operations of various state programs. Federal Funds can be comprised of many different types of federal revenues. For example, they can be made up of federal income tax receipts, fuel tax receipts, federal capital gains tax receipts, or federal tariff receipts, just to name a few.
General Fund/General Purpose Funds are funds gained by the state from predominantly three areas: state personal income taxes, state sales and use taxes, and single business and insurance taxes.[5] These taxes are broad-based and are intended to fund programs that purportedly have broad-based effects.
Special Revenue Funds can be comprised of many different types of state revenues. The most common type of Special Revenue Funds, however, are targeted taxes, user fees, and regulatory fees. For example, dry cleaners in the state of Michigan are taxed each year to pay for on-site regulatory inspections of their establishments. The tax that these proprietors pay is an example of Special Revenue.